The city will vote on whether or not to take eminent domain action on this home at 35 E. Third St. during the Morgan Hill City Council meeting on June 24. The city wants to use the property for parking.
Photo by: Natalie Everett
Dwight Jungkeit has owned the home at 35 E. Third Street since 1985, but he might not own it much longer.
The city could soon set in motion an eminent domain process that would condemn the downtown home and replace it with eight parking spaces. The city would raze the home and pave over the lot, creating a larger parking area behind the businesses facing Monterey Road.
City Manager Ed Tewes sent Jungkeit a letter June 1 notifying him that the Morgan Hill City Council would consider the controversial move at a June 24 meeting. A city can undertake eminent domain if its governing board deems the property is necessary for a project that serves the greatest public good, and if the owner of that property has been offered a fair market price for it, City Attorney Danny Wan said.
The Jungkeits declined the city's offer to pay them about $500,000 for the property, based on an appraisal, according to City Manager Ed Tewes. At a quarter-acre in size, the lot would provide about eight parking spaces, according to a public notice. That works out to about $62,500 per parking space.
Jungkeit got his own appraisal that - because the property is zoned for commercial, not residential - was about $100,000 higher than the city's offer, he said. Jungkeit made a counter offer to that effect in December.
Jungkeit said his offer was met with silence until June 1.
"We have not heard a word ... not mail, a phone call or e-mail or anything. We assumed they weren't interested in the property anymore," Jungkeit said.
Tewes said the city turned down his counter offer. Jungkeit said the situation was a "communication breakdown."
"They chose to be silent for six months and put this together and then surprised me with it," he said. "They're supposed to give me fair market value, but whatever that is today, I don't know. They sat on it for six months so I don't know what to think."
Jungkeit and his wife Lola live in Santa Rosa and have never occupied the home, he said. Currently, a young couple are renting it from them.
Dubbed the Aiken house, the folk Victorian home was built sometime around 1900 and was among 16 properties the city marked "potentially significant" historical downtown resources, according to city documents. In May 2008, the council determined it wasn't historical enough to be on the city's final list.
Jungkeit said he and the city had been negotiating for two years.
"With the city, you have to kind of do what they want," Jungkeit said. "Most likely, it will become what they want it to become."
Mayor Steve Tate had little to say, noting that the discussion will take place during the council meeting June 24.
"The property is fairly instrumental in terms of creating the type of parking we want downtown," he said.
If the council decides to adopt the resolution of necessity June 24, the city would have six months to file for eminent domain with the court, Wan said. In the meantime, negotiations will continue and if an agreement is made before the city files, the eminent domain will not be pursued.
Tewes said the last time the council considered this first step toward eminent domain was when the city assembled property for the upcoming Tennant Avenue widening project. The property owner and the city did reach an agreement before the case reached the court, he said.
Across Third street, the city recently closed on the Simple Beverages and More property for $1.5 million. That property will bestow as many as 30 spaces downtown. In June 2008, the city spent $683,000 on the Hamilton property, which will provide as many as 30 spaces. In May 2008, the city also bought the two-acre lot at Depot Street and Third for $1.1 million. That property added about 90 spaces.
Natalie Everett
Natalie Everett Natalie Everett is the education and city reporter for The Times. Reach her at (408) 779-4106, ext. 201, or neverett@morganhilltimes.com.
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